Control
by StAlia
Summary: A continuation of my Shepard's story after choosing Control Sorry for the short chapters so far, I will have more time for it in the future
1. Chapter 1

"The Reapers are moving again, sir… they're approaching us"  
"Are they attacking?" asked Admiral Hackett  
"They're don't look hostile," replied the Flight Commander. "They're stopping just ahead of us.  
"Open the shutters, Commander"  
"But sir, they may still be-"  
"Open them." The order came with more strength this time.  
The pilot pressed a few holographic buttons and the shutters on the bridge's viewing windows slid open silently. There were some murmurs around the bridge crew as they saw the mass of Reapers ahead of them. Nobody dared disturb the silence. Hackett looked onto the Reapers, putting great thought into his next step. A light flashed on a control panel, accompanied by a small beep.  
"Sir, we're…" the Flight Commander checked the alarm. He knew what it meant, but what it meant definitely needed checking. "We're getting a communication from the Reapers. Just Audio."  
"Let's hear it" Hackett said slowly. The Flight Commander pressed a single button.  
"Admiral Hackett?" The voice rang out into the bridge. It was a Reaper, undoubtedly, but it was also something more. There was the faintest edge of feminine humanity to the voice, and it could be discerned from the intonation that those two words were a question. All eyes turned to the Admiral.  
"Yes?" Hackett replied, treading cautiously.  
"It's me. It's Shepard. At least, it was Shepard."  
"What are you saying? Am I speaking to Shepard."  
"You are speaking to what Shepard- what I have become."  
"Commander, where are you? Are you on board one of the Reapers?"  
"I am the Reapers. I used the Crucible. I became one with them."  
"You are in control of the Reaper forces? Is that why they stopped attacking?" There were already whispers of victorious celebration working their way around the crew.  
"Everything that I now am exists within the Reapers. I do not control them. I am them."  
"So the Crucible worked? Have we won this war, Commander?"  
"Please," That word sounded so out of place in the grating metallic voice of a Reaper. "Do not call me Commander. I am no longer anything that that word describes." Hackett was about to speak when the voice continued. "Yes, the war is over."  
"And you, Shepard, you won it. You're a-"  
"Did the Normandy survive?" Shepard interrupted.  
"It did. We just got word. They got hit hard by the Crucible's shockwave. They went down on a planet in a nearby system. It wasn't too hard a hit, we think. They haven't reported any fatalities."  
There was no response from the voice that was part-Shepard, part-Reaper. A single Reaper ship, at the front of the fleet, turned and disappeared as it entered FTL travel.


	2. Chapter 2

Joker slowly lifted his head and reached out to the controls in front of him. Everything hurt. He had been pushed hard into the seat restraints when they had crashed, and could feel from experience that he had dozens of broken bones. He consoled himself in the knowledge that everyone else on the ship would be equally worse for wear, having just survived a planetary crash.

The holographic displays in front of him showed a lot of errors, and little else. He could tell by the lack of humming coming from beneath him that the main drive core was offline, and by the sunlight creeping over his shoulder that there had been a hull breach, but they had landed on a planet with an atmosphere. He turned to right. EDI's body sat in the co-pilot's chair, motionless. He managed to move his arm to touch her shoulder, but there was no response.  
"What the hell happened?" barked a voice approaching Joker from behind. It was James Vega.  
"Don't ask me. I've been busy saving all our lives by not driving us nose-first into a planet."  
"It was the Crucible, though, wasn't it? Shepard did it?"  
"Shepard _did it._" Liara T'Soni said, arriving in the cockpit.. "We've won."  
EDI suddenly jerked in her seat. Joker spun to her, taking her hand in his, but there was no more movement.  
"I'm going to go down to the engineering deck," Vega murmured. "I'll see if Adams and Tali are OK, and try to find out how big a mess we're in."  
There was a silence that lasted long enough to make Liara uncomfortable. "She'll be alright, Geoff. I know it" Joker said nothing, still holding EDI's hand. Liara breathed deeply and left the cockpit.  
Joker stayed still, and more impressively, silent, for several minute. He was about to shout or cry- he didn't know which- when EDI spoke.  
"I'll be fine, Geoff. The crash took out a lot of my processing capability, but that can be repaired. I've reconfigured the rest of my programming to run off what's left for now."


	3. Chapter 3

"Nobody was hurt too badly." Vega said as he returned to the cockpit. "There were a few explosions in the shuttle hanger, a few people got some burns, but Dr Chakwas says it's nothing to be concerned about."  
"How's the ship itself?" EDI asked.  
"You mean... you don't know?" Vega asked, a little surpirsed.  
"I was very heavily damaged in the crash. I have been severed from most of the Normandy's systems."  
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that could happen... The ship's in a pretty bad state, but they've got the fires out now. We're not in any danger, but we're not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. I've activated the distress beacon.""  
"Could've turned out a lot worse" mumbled Joker.  
"Oh, and we can't get into the main battery room. Several bulkheads came down in that part of the ship."  
"Was anyone in there?" Joker asked.  
"I don't know for sure, but I think Garrus was. He's not anywhere else on the ship, and, you know, he was always in there-"  
"Hello?" The voice of a Reaper rang out throughout the ship.


End file.
